Feeling a bit overwhelmed at the amazing ability of flutists in the Festival? Want to meet some other players of your standard? Then come and join this flute choir specially designed for players from Beginner up to Grade 3 standard.

We will enjoy playing a variety of duets and trios in a relaxed environment, and you will have the opportunity to develop your sight-reading and to learn ensemble playing skills.

Peter Verhoyen, world-renowned piccolo specialist, and Maddilyn Goodwin, former student of Peter and researcher, take you through the piece discussing elements of Baroque performance practise so that you may find your own "authentic" performance amongst the flexibility of Baroque practices. Various elements of performance practise will be addressed, with Peter and Maddilyn providing demonstrations for complete comprehension. Additionally, Peter Verhoyen discusses how to approach the piece in an audition setting from an orchestral viewpoint, and what to work on for a successful piccolo audition. Throughout the lecture, the piece will be performed and demonstrated by both presenters in a fun and dynamic way. This lecture is based on Maddilyn Goodwin's research: "An Educated Guess: The Employment of Historically-Informed Performance Practices on the Modern Piccolo in Antonio Vivaldi's Flautino Concerto in C Major RV 443." The research was conducted in Belgium 2016-17, under supervision of established Belgian harpsichordist, period performance specialist, conductor and researcher, Ewald Demeyere.

Every performer, every student and every teacher is unique. Unique in their desire to play, in their individual physicality and their attitude. Yet, every person is similar in their structure, the fundamentals of coordination, posture and balance apply to everyone. As teachers know from experience, physical coordination responds moment by moment to what the student is thinking. This workshop will involve practical activities and demonstrations on how to devise coordination, body mapping and activity instructions to assist in teaching and personal playing.

Equipping students with the best possible trained coordination to support continual improvement, health and enjoyment is a key aspect of music teaching. Learning to play involves hours of training repetitive actions. As these actions become more and more habituated over time, it is important to provide a solid grounding in posture, balance and ease of movement so the student avoids difficult repetitive strain injuries, mental stress and loss of enjoyment as the challenges of playing increase. The BodyMinded approach to teaching has been developed to upskill teachers with the essentials of coordination based on a three phase method for creating teaching instructions. The workshop will outline this process with practical examples, and will provide an opportunity for teachers to ask questions about particular challenges they face in the studio and in their own playing.

The workshop is practical, it is intended that you will learn some processes you can explore with your students and in your personal practise.

AFF invites one performer to take part in these innovative performance/discussion/workshop opportunities, which form the core musical experience of the Grolloo Flute Sessions (home of the Eva Kingma Flutes workshop), led by Matthias Ziegler, Ian Clarke and Wissam Boustany in the Netherlands.

The selected flutist will give a complete performance of their chosen repertoire (maximum duration 10 minutes) which will be videoed. A dynamic discussion follows, in which the performer is able share his/her intended goals and the audience gives their feedback in a supportive and constructive environment.

Afterwards the student is given the video recording and will have the opportunity to study the video and reflect on their own thoughts in light of their experience and the feedback. The sessions usually develop into a lively debate led by Ian, Wissam and Matthias, who will share their individual insights and methods.

Please register your interest to perform in this workshop by filling in the form below.

This workshop will be based on a live demonstration of ACT processes through role play with a professional musician. It will incorporate some experiential exercises as well as a role play that will allow attendees to participate.

This workshop is unique as it will be a unscripted live demonstration of ACT processes in response to the performance situation in the workshop. It also contributes by integrating concepts such as self-compassion (from Compassion Focussed Therapy) and intrinsic motivation and flow (from Self-Determination Theory and Flow Theory) and incorporating the author’s experience of applying ACT to her own music performance anxiety as well as professional and conservatoria musicians in her workshops and private counselling practice.

In this workshop Deborah will demonstrate her unique approach to enhancing music performance when stage fright turns up. Deborah has developed this method from evolutionary science and psychological research, initially to help with her own performance anxiety as a professional horn player, and now in her work as a coach and counsellor for musicians in workshops and the therapy room. This approach considers our everyday human drive to make music, our unwillingness to accept the mind and body’s unpleasant responses to high pressure performance and how we might strengthen our attentional muscle in order to make the music we truly desire to live our most meaningful life. Deborah will take the audience through some exercises and demonstrate with a volunteer performer some of these unusual and challenging concepts.

James will offer a breath centred yoga practice, which will explore postures for optimum flexibility and body awareness. The desired outcome for all participants will be a re-connection with the natural breath, plus provide tools for better concentration and relaxation. No prior yoga experience is necessary. Wear comfortable clothing (shorts, leotards) not tight jeans or dresses. All equipment will be provided.

Participants must hold a full registration to the Australian Flute Festival 2019.

Applications close June 3rd, 2019

Please register (using the form below) for ONE session only to allow as many people as possible to take part.